Age 29 New Jersey woman accused of falsifying birth certificate, pretending to be high school student

(The AEGIS Alliance) – On January 24th, a 29-year-old female was apprehended for using a falsified birth certificate to enroll in a high school, where she pretended to be a teenager for several days before her deception was discovered. This information was shared during a Board of Education meeting in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a video of the meeting was subsequently posted on Twitter by Charlie Kratovil. The Schools Superintendent, Dr. Aubrey Johnson, spoke about the incident during the meeting.

Breaking news: An adult woman was arrested after posing as a child and providing fake documents to enroll in New Brunswick High School last week, @aubjohnson111 announced tonight.

She attended the school for four days and community members are concerned about her motives. pic.twitter.com/BLOwgFeyss

— Charlie Kratovil (@Charlie4Change) January 25, 2023

Dr. Aubrey Johnson, the New Brunswick Schools Superintendent, reported that a 29-year-old woman used fraudulent documents to enroll in the district’s high school. She was able to attend classes for four days before being discovered. Following this incident, the individual has been prohibited from entering any property belonging to the school district.

According to Dr. Aubrey Johnson, the woman was present in several classes but mainly spent time in the school’s guidance department as officials sought to gather more information from her. She was subsequently arrested and charged with submitting false documentation. The individual was identified as Hyejeong Shin by NJ.com.

New Brunswick Today reported that parents and teachers were informed about the presence of Hyejeong Shin in the school, and were instructed not to communicate with her.

According to NJ 101.5-FM, the New Brunswick Police gave a statement that said, “Schools are required to immediately enroll unaccompanied children, even in the absence of records normally required for enrollment. Proof of guardianship is not necessary to immediately enroll an unaccompanied child or youth.”

The statement went on and said, “Although a school district might request documents such as a birth certificate to verify a child’s age, a school district may not prevent or discourage a child, including an unaccompanied child, from enrolling in or attending school because he or she lacks a birth certificate or has records that indicate a foreign place of birth, such as a foreign birth certificate.”

During the meeting, Dr. Aubrey Johnson stated that the school district will review its process for verifying the authenticity of documentation, in light of this incident.

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.